Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which Deputy Clare Daly has also raised repeatedly and on which she has submitted another question for later today. I am aware that the vigil took place. Since then, I have received a letter from the group seeking a meeting. I am more than happy to meet it. I will respond to it in the coming days and set up a meeting before Christmas.

Since our last Question Time, I have held a detailed and long meeting on Lariam with our entire team in the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces, including the Chief Medical Officer and the other policy and medical experts and personnel. Following that Question Time, I met someone who had been affected by Lariam and subsequently put many of the questions that arose then to our experts to try to get answers. I will happily meet people who believe that they have been the victims of the consequence of taking Lariam as an anti-malarial drug.

My only objective is to try to do the right thing to protect the health of our Defence Forces personnel while they are abroad in areas that are affected by malaria. It is a serious risk, as malaria is a killer and we need to protect our troops from it. How to do that and what drug to use are questions of judgment and medical assessment, that is, the screening process that people go through individually before being prescribed Lariam. I will refer to this matter again. Our expert group has been reconvened to examine our policy on Lariam. We are considering what is being done internationally. I expect the group to report to me around the end of January.

I have no tie to Lariam. My only concern is to do what is right for our troops by taking the best possible medical advice and learning from the experiences of the many people who have been involved in making that decision. I suspect that I will have to answer more questions on this matter.

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